ⓒYONHAP News

The Justice Party maintained its hold on the Changwon-Seongsan district vacated by the popular late lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan.

Yeo Young-guk, who was also backed by the ruling Democratic Party(DP) after the two parties agreed to merge candidates, secured 45-point-75 percent of the votes, beating Kang Ki-youn of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party(LKP) by just 504 votes.

After trailing Kang for most of the election, Yeo came from behind after 99 percent of the votes were counted.

Yeo declared the revival of Roh's spirit after winning the election.

“I will, by all means, lead efforts to revamp the National Assembly. That’s the way to revive and uphold Roh Hoe-chan’s spirit.”

In the Tongyeong-Goseong district, Jeong Jeom-sig of the LKP garnered 59-point-47 percent of the votes to secure the parliamentary seat, easily beating DP rival, Yang Moon-suk.

Jeong is considered to be a close aide of LKP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, as both men served as prosecutors.

“Together with Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, I will lead efforts to suppress the recklessness of the Moon Jae-in government and realize a power shift.”

With the by-elections, both of which took place in South Gyeongsang Province, the LKP now has 14 less seats than the ruling party while the Justice Party holds a total of six seats.

Three local councilors were also elected on Wednesday. The Party for Democracy and Peace secured one of the posts in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province while the LKP won the other two slots in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province.

The ruling and main opposition parties managed to avoid their worst case scenarios in the elections. However, the political standoff is expected to continue for the time being given that there was no landslide victory for either party.